Sexuality, Relationships and Autism

This one day course will explore a range of issues related to autistic people and sexuality including boundaries, friendships and relationships. It will enable delegates to increase their understanding of how friendships and relationships can be nurtured and supported in the autistic person and how to enable the autistic person to understand that the friendship might or might not develop and what to do about both eventualities.

The course will develop the notion of the ‘listening professional’ in order to generate strategies to answer questions, respond to behaviours, and address sexuality in an appropriate and effective way for autistic people.

This course will be presented by Dr John Biddulph a specialist provider of autism training, mentoring, diagnostic and other services. For the past 17 years he has been a freelance consultant including a specialist autism and music programme. He has contributed to the Postgraduate course in Autism and Asperger Syndrome run by the NAS and Sheffield Hallam University and the undergraduate Psychology degree. He is an external examiner for PhD studies in Autism.

John has delivered training in most EU member states and is in demand as a speaker at autism and other conferences on a wide range of subject areas. He is a published author on autism, written a children’s book, and courseware for the Open University. Music entitled ‘Sleep’, to facilitate better sleep health and ‘Galilean Moons’ are available as iTunes downloads. John has developed an online auditory workstation for autistic individuals designed for use by professionals and families.

John is qualified in the use of the developmental, dimensional and diagnostic interview (3di), ADOS 2 and ADI-R pathways. He is a qualified teacher, ECB Level II cricket coach and, by his own admission, a terrible dancer. John performs regularly in a jazz trio on saxophone and as a solo electronic musician as HandMadeSound.

John’s professional expertise in autism has the added benefit of being focused through the prism of his own diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome.

Course content

The first part of the course will look at sexuality and relationships for autistic people and the impact of autism on making and developing friendships and relationships including sensory differences, developing listening skills and positive communication including how to ‘read between the lines’.
The second part will enable delegates to explore practical ways of supporting individuals, strategies, and some examples of autistic people in relationships.

Who should attend?

This course is suitable for anyone who works with autistic adults and/or teenagers. To get the most out of this training course, it is advisable to have a prior understanding of autism.

Although the course will focus on those working with autistic adults and teenagers, the information is also relevant to autistic adults themselves as well as family members.

Benefits of attending

An increased understanding of the presentations of autistic adults and teenagers in relation to boundaries, relationships, and sexuality;

Developing knowledge of specific issues facing autistic people;

Increased confidence in supporting autistic people relating to understanding and exploring their own sexuality and relationships;